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Europe > Ireland

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Cover IMF How To Notes
How to Make the Management of Public Finances Climate-Sensitive—“Green PFM”
Ozlem Aydin Sakrak
,
Bryn Battersby
,
Mr. Fabien Gonguet
,
Mr. Claude P Wendling
,
Jacques Charaoui
,
Murray Petrie
, and
Suphachol Suphachalasai
This How to Note develops the “green public financial management (PFM)” framework briefly outlined in an earlier Staff Climate Note (2021/002, published in August 2021). It illustrates, how climate change and environmental concerns can be mainstreamed into government’s institutional arrangements in place to facilitate the implementation of fiscal policies. It provides numerous country examples covering possible entry points for green PFM – phases in the budget cycle (strategic planning and fiscal framework, budget preparation, budget execution and accounting, control, and audit), legal framework or issues that cut across the budget cycle, such as fiscal transparency or coordination with State Owned Enterprises or with subnational governments. This How to Note also summarizes practical guidance for implementation of a green PFM strategy, underscoring the need for a tailored approach adapted to country specificities and for a strong stewardship role of the Ministry of Finance.
Keywords:
Public financial management; green budgeting; green public financial management; mainstreaming; climate change adaptation; climate change mitigation; public finances; PFM function; view of Green PFM; PFM practice; PFM reform; Climate change; Budget planning and preparation; Climate policy; Global
Cover IMF How To Notes
How to Evaluate Tax Expenditures
Sebastian Beer
,
Ms. Dora Benedek
,
Brian Erard
, and
Jan Loeprick
Governments use tax expenditures (TEs) to provide financial support or benefits to taxpayers. The budgetary impact of TEs can be similar to that of direct outlays: after the support is provided, less money is available to fund other government priorities. Systematic evaluations are needed to guide informed decision-mak¬ing and to avoid a situation where the narrative on the benefits of TEs is primarily driven by profiting stakeholders. By TE “evaluation,” this note refers to a process that seeks to systematically inform policymak¬ers on the desirability of introducing or maintaining specific tax benefits by gathering and analyzing avail¬able quantitative and qualitative information on their effects. Evaluation processes can be tailored to different levels of data availability and analytical capacity. An evaluation should focus on the policy objective of a TE and whether it effectively and efficiently contrib¬utes to that policy objective. Although important lessons can be learned from coun¬try practices in implementing increasingly ambitious evaluation processes, there is no single best-practice approach to replicate.
Keywords:
tax expenditures; cost-benefit assessment; public policy evaluation; sample evaluation; publication order; publication service; title page; post evaluation; Tax incentives; Compliance costs; Value-added tax; Global; East Asia
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
United Kingdom: Technical Assistance Report-Public Investment Management Assessment
International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept.
The United Kingdom (UK) has ambitious plans to increase infrastructure investment, boost economic growth, reduce regional disparities, and help achieve the climate transition. The National Infrastructure Strategy, Plan for Growth, Net Zero Strategy and Levelling Up White Paper set out the Government’s ambitions—including closing existing gaps in transportation networks, transforming digital connectivity, boosting education, skills, and R&D, accelerating the climate transition and investing in infrastructure at the local level. These goals are supported by allocations of over £600 billion in gross public sector investment over the five-year period to 2026/27. The planned ramp-up in public investment is expected to bring the UK’s annual infrastructure investment to OECD average levels of 3 percent by 2024/25, reversing a process of public capital stock decline that goes back to the 1970s and 1980s.
Keywords:
UK Government investment; UK Pima; UK Project delivery career pathway; government major; E. investment implementation; Infrastructure; Public investment spending; Public expenditure review; Budget planning and preparation; Capital spending; Global
Cover PIMA Handbook
PIMA Handbook
Public Investment Management Assessment, 1st Edition
International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept.

Abstract

This handbook is aimed at anyone who is involved in a Public Investment Management Assessment (PIMA) or who has a practical interest in public investment management. It is intended to be useful for country authorities, IMF staff, staff of other financial institutions and development organizations, and anyone who is interested in exploring different aspects of public investment management to understand how country systems are designed and how they work in practice.

Keywords:
IMF Public Investment Management Assessment; public investment; PIMA; PIM; public investment management; handbook; investment; government; governance; country; spending; infrastructure governance; investment efficiency; investment shock; investment spending; public investment spending; public investment and public-private partnerships (PPP); infrastructure; budget planning; planification; allocation; execution; fiscal rules; global; Asia and Pacific; Africa; Caribbean; Sub-Saharan Africa; Western Hemisphere; Middle East; investment trend; infrastructure investment spending; Pima report; investment planning; PPP investment; Budget planning and preparation; Capital spending; Capital budget
Cover Staff Climate Notes
Climate-Sensitive Management of Public Finances—"Green PFM”
Mr. Fabien Gonguet
,
Mr. Claude P Wendling
,
Ozlem Aydin Sakrak
, and
Bryn Battersby
Public financial management (PFM) consists of all the government’s institutional arrangements in place to facilitate the implementation of fiscal policies. In response to the growing urgency to fight climate change, “green PFM” aims at adapting existing PFM practices to support climate-sensitive policies. With the cross-cutting nature of climate change and wider environmental concerns, green PFM can be a key enabler of an integrated government strategy to combat climate change. This note outlines a framework for green PFM, emphasizing the need for an approach combining various entry points within, across, and beyond the budget cycle. This includes components such as fiscal transparency and external oversight, and coordination with state-owned enterprises and subnational governments. The note also identifies principles for effective implementation of a green PFM strategy, among which the need for a strong stewardship located within the ministry of finance is paramount.
Keywords:
public financial management, green budgeting, green public financial management, mainstreaming, climate change adaptation, climate change mitigation; IMF staff Climate note; IMF staff Climate Note 2021/002; climate change mitigation; management of public finances; climate change adaptation; Budget planning and preparation; Climate change; Climate policy; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Republic of Estonia: Technical Assistance Report-Public Investment Management Assessment
International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept.
This Technical Assistance Report on the Republic of Estonia highlights that public investment is a priority spending area, and Estonia is seeking to strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of its capital expenditure from an already high level. Estonia’s public investment is relatively efficient, while further improvements should pay attention to the quality of public services enabled by them. Investment implementation is particularly strong. This reflects Estonia’s open procurement framework that utilizes an advanced e-procurement system, its modern treasury that employs an effective Treasury Single Account system to guarantee cash availability, asset monitoring that has been made routine through full accrual accounting for the whole public sector, and active project management by ministries. Some practices that are already effectively implemented should be formalized in the institutional design which will act as a safeguard. Public investment projects should be managed in an integrated portfolio at all stages of the investment cycle. It is difficult to obtain a picture of all-important investment projects pursued in the public sector including by local governments and state-owned enterprises. A comprehensive portfolio view of all projects supports transparent prioritization across sectors and the identification of systemic patterns or risks.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; balance sheet; capital expenditure; accounting data; local government; annual budget; Budget planning and preparation; Public investment and public-private partnerships (PPP); Public investment spending; Capital spending; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Republic of Estonia: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper analyzes the drivers of wage growth and inflation in Estonia. The analysis reveals that the role played by the inflation and inflation expectations in Estonia is different from those of the EU15. The impact of inflation on wage formation is smaller than in larger and richer countries with lower inflation volatility. This has limited the downward pressure on wages during the period of very low inflation in 2014–16. Although there has been an episode of wage growth leading inflation before the global financial crisis, the current simultaneous acceleration in prices and wages is not evidence of a developing wage-price spiral, as a significant share of the increase in inflation is owing to exogenous factors.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; pay; state; wage growth; minimum wage; EU average; spiral emerging; IMF staff calculation; gender pay gap; Wages; Public investment spending; Budget planning and preparation; Labor markets; Baltics; Western Europe; Europe
Cover Policy Papers
Public Investment Management Assessment - Review and Update
International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept.
Public Investment Management Assessments (PIMAs) are the IMF‘s key tool for assessing infrastructure governance over the full investment cycle and supporting economic institution building in this area. The PIMA framework was first introduced in the 2015 Board Paper on “Making Public Investment More Efficient,” as part of the IMF’s Infrastructure Policy Support Initiative (IPSI). A key motivation for its development has been that strong infrastructure governance is critical for public investment to spur economic growth. PIMAs offer rigorous assessment of infrastructure governance, that is, the key public investment management (PIM) institutions and processes of a country. On the basis of the PIMAs conducted to date, this paper summarizes the lessons learned and updates the assessment framework itself. PIMAs summarize the strengths and weaknesses of country public investment processes, and set out a prioritized and sequenced reform action plan. The PIMA framework has been well-received by member countries, with over 30 PIMAs conducted to date (mainly in emerging markets (EMs) and low income developing countries (LIDCs), and a pipeline of new requests in place; eight PIMAs have been or are about to be published. The PIMAs conducted show that there is much room for strengthening PIM, with weaknesses spread across the investment cycle. The results and recommendations of several PIMAs have been used in IMF lending, surveillance, and capacity development (CD) work, and have improved support and coordination among CD providers. While leaving the structure of the 2015 framework unchanged, the revised PIMA framework highlights some critical governance aspects more prominently. In particular, it brings out more fully some key aspects of maintenance, procurement, independent review of projects, and the enabling environment (e.g., adequacy of the legal framework, information systems, and staff capacity). Yet, the revised PIMA retains the key features of the 2015 framework, including the three-phase structure (planning, allocation, and implementation) with five institutions assigned to each phase, three dimensions under each institution, and three possible scores under each dimension (i.e., not/partially/fully met). The revision has benefitted from extensive stakeholder feedback, including from IMF teams, World Bank staff, and country authorities.
Keywords:
PP; country authorities; infrastructure governance; investment institution; priority reform; reform priority; section IV; efficiency gap; fund member country; department comment; member country request; investment efficiency; country group; Public Investment Management Assessment (PIMA); Public investment spending; Public investment and public-private partnerships (PPP); Budget planning and preparation; Infrastructure; Africa; Middle East and Central Asia; Europe; Western Hemisphere; Asia and Pacific
Cover Independent Evaluation Office Annual Report 2017
Independent Evaluation Office Annual Report 2017
International Monetary Fund. Independent Evaluation Office

Abstract

This paper discusses that the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) has also launched three new evaluations—which will analyze the IMF’s role on fragile states, its financial surveillance activities, and its advice on unconventional monetary policies—and two evaluation updates—which will look into the IMF’s exchange rate policy advice and structural conditionality. The evaluation found that, for the most part, the IMF’s euro area surveillance identified the right issues during the pre-crisis period but did not foresee the magnitude of the risks that would later become paramount. The IMF’s surveillance of the financial regulatory architecture was generally of high quality, but staff, along with most other experts, missed the buildup of banking system risks in some countries. The report found several issues with the way decision making was managed by the IMF. In May 2010, the IMF Executive Board approved a decision to provide exceptional access financing to Greece without seeking preemptive debt restructuring, even though its sovereign debt was not deemed sustainable with a high probability.

Keywords:
IEOR; IEO; background color; IEO Evaluation; IEO Director; staff allocation; discretionary budget; seminar program; Budget planning and preparation; Global financial crisis of 2008-2009; Civil society organizations; Exchange rate policy; Communications in revenue administration; Global; Sub-Saharan Africa; Caribbean; IMF surveillance; IEO staff survey; IMF exchange rate Policy advice; information request; Poverty reduction strategy; Unconventional monetary policies; Monetary unions
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
United Kingdom: Fiscal Transparency Evaluation
International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept.
This report assesses fiscal transparency practices in the United Kingdom in relation to the requirements of the IMF’s new Fiscal Transparency Code (FTC). Across all pillars evaluated in the code, the United Kingdom scores very highly when compared with other countries that have undergone an assessment. Of the 48 principles in the FTC, the United Kingdom meets 9 principles at the basic level, 10 principles at the good level, and 23 principles at the advanced level. Fiscal transparency practices are strongest in the area of fiscal reporting and resource revenue management. In four principles, the United Kingdom’s transparency practices do not currently meet basic practice.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; financial year; tax revenue; balance sheet; cash flow; central government; financial crisis; government guarantee; nominal GDP; UK authorities; accounts payable; investment strategy; Eurostat government finance statistics; government payment; cross holdings; tax loss; market price; policies mirrors problem; unsecured debt; assets liability; Budget planning and preparation; Public sector; Financial statements; Global; Europe